Consortia and State or University Systems
A NSSE consortium is a group of six or more colleges or universities participating in NSSE the same administration year that want to ask students additional questions that will follow the NSSE core survey. Multi-campus state and university systems can also coordinate their NSSE participation and receive additional reports, regardless of whether they want to ask additional questions.
Consortia and systems with lists of their participating institutions can be viewed by administration year or across all years.
Contact the NSSE Consortium Manager for questions about consortium matters.
Purpose and Function
Benefits of Consortium Participation
Forming a Consortium
Appointing a Coordinator
Registering for Consortium or System Participation
Timeline for NSSE 2012
Drafting Additional Consortium Questions
Purpose and Function
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Up to 20 additional questions may be added; questions are developed and agreed upon by member institutions and reviewed by a NSSE research analyst.
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A consortium must contain at least six institutions to ensure confidentiality of responses from individual institutions, and also to distribute the expense for NSSE to set up the consortium. Requests to form a consortium of fewer than six institutions will be considered, but would require all participating institutions to sign a data sharing agreement.
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Survey administration mode is not impacted by consortium membership; individual institutions choose whichever mode is best for their individual administration.
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Consortium fees for participating institutions is based upon the size of total undergraduate enrollment for your institution.
| Enrollment | Consortium Fee |
|---|---|
| Fewer than 4,000 | $200 |
| 4,000 to 7,999 | $300 |
| 8,000 to 12,000 | $400 |
| More than 12,000 | $500 |
Benefits of Consortium Participation
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Institutions receive consortium aggregate means and frequencies as one of the three comparison groups in their Institutional Report.
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Consortium coordinators will receive a report of selected consortium results but do not receive individual institutional data unless a data sharing agreement is completed.
State and University Systems
State systems and multi-institution university systems may participate as a system without asking additional questions and receive the following for no additional fee:
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Frequency and benchmark reports comparing all institutions in the system, including aggregate frequency and benchmark information for the entire system.
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Set of mean comparison, frequency, and benchmark reports for each institution (each institution still receives its individual Institutional Report).
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SPSS file of institutional data (requires system and institutional data sharing agreements).
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Systems that wish to ask additional questions may do so and will be charged the standard consortium fees for each institution.
Forming a Consortium
NSSE consortia and systems form between August and early October. If you are an individual or organization wanting to coordinate a consortium, complete the NSSE 2012 Consortium Enrollment form that will be available beginning in August .
Institutions do not need to belong to another pre-existing consortium or system to form a NSSE consortium, but all of the participating institutions must be registered and approved for NSSE 2012. A list of approved institutions will appear on the NSSE Web site beginning in August and will be updated on a regular basis.
If you need assistance recruiting participants, NSSE can provide coordinators with the contact information of registered institutions’ project managers. The NSSE Consortium Manager will solicit interest in receiving this information in early October. NSSE staff members can also help institutions identify potential membership in an existing consortium or recommend other institutions they might contact to form a new consortium.
Appointing a Coordinator
Consortia and systems are managed by a volunteer coordinator, typically an individual from one of the institutions in the proposed consortium, although coordinators from an institution not currently participating in the survey are permitted. The Consortium Coordinator is responsible for:
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Determining consortium/system purpose and name;
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Recruiting participating institutions as necessary;
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Coordinating communication among participating institutions;
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Working with consortium participants to develop consortium questions and submit by the deadline;
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Responding to question revisions recommended by NSSE research analysts;
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Communicating with the NSSE Consortium Manager as needed;
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Coordinating any additional data sharing agreements between these institutions and NSSE;
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Determining the extent to which NSSE can present or publish articles on consortium or system data; and,
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Indicating whether or not data should be provided to the coordinator in SPSS Format. If this is requested, then a data sharing agreement must be procured.
Registering for Consortium or System Participation
Consortia and system formation will be available beginning in late August. All institutions registered for NSSE in 2011 will be invited to enroll in consortium or system participation beginning September 20.
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Institutions may enroll in only one consortium.
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Institutions in a non-question asking system may register for a consortium and be considered a system participant.
Timeline for NSSE 2012
| July 2011 | NSSE Consortium Manager contacts existing consortia and systems to determine interest in 2012 participation. |
| August 5, 2011 | Consortium/System Enrollment Form Available for Coordinators |
| September 15, 2011 | NSSE 2012 registration deadline for institutions |
| September 20, 2011 | Enrollment for institutions to join a consortium and/or system opens on the Institution Interface |
| September 30, 2011 | Deadline for Coordinators to enroll Consortium/System |
| October 7, 2011 | Deadline for consortium and system coordinators to submit questions |
| November 4, 2011 | Deadline for institutions to enroll in consortium or system |
Drafting Additional Consortium Questions
Each consortium or system may ask up to 20 consortium-specific questions. Coordinators must submit questions by October 7, 2011. In drafting additional questions, it may be helpful to involve NSSE project staff early in the process. Both NSSE and Indiana University’s Center for Survey Research staff will review potential questions and make recommendations based on best practices in survey administration and compatibility with items on the National Survey of Student Engagement. Consortia that form after the October 7 deadline will work with the NSSE Consortium Manager to develop a plan for question submission.